The Bible​—A Revelation From God?

Does this necessarily mean, though, that you can trust the Bible as a revelation from God? There are many reasons why you can.

First of all, it is only reasonable to assume that God would reveal himself to man in some way. What do you think of a man who fathers children but then runs away and abandons them? What if such a man left his children in complete ignorance about himself, not even leaving them his name? Would you not be outraged with him? Is it not, therefore, only reasonable to conclude that a loving Creator would in some way reveal himself to his earthly children?

‘But why would he do so through a book?’ you might ask. ‘Would not an Almighty God use something more dramatic​—perhaps a voice from the sky?’ God did speak from heaven on several occasions, as when he gave the Ten Commandments. At that time the people were so terrified by the display of natural phenomena that they pleaded with Moses, “Let not God speak with us for fear we may die.” So they stood at a distance while Jehovah spoke to Moses. (Exodus 20:18-22)a But even Moses could have forgotten those words spoken by God. Jehovah therefore wisely chose to have Moses and, later, other faithful men preserve His words in writing. (Exodus 34:28) Thus, people can read God’s thoughts at their leisure. They can ponder, meditate on, and study what God has to say.​—See Joshua 1:8; also 1 Timothy 4:15.

True, the Bible was written by men, just as surely as men wrote the Hindu writings. But the men writing the Bible were under the influence of Jehovah God’s holy spirit. (2 Peter 1:21) Their writings were not mere philosophical musings. And the Bible has the earmarks of God’s direction. Can anything other than God’s direction account for the Bible’s accurately telling the order in which life appeared on the earth? (Genesis, chapter 1) Can anything other than God’s direction account for the Bible’s accurately stating, more than 2,700 years ago, that the earth not only is round but hangs “upon nothing”? (Job 26:7; Isaiah 40:22) Can anything other than divine direction account for the Bible’s unerring accuracy when it comes to prophecies, such as the one at Isaiah 44:28, wherein the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great was mentioned by name some 130 years before he was born? Could any human have foretold 2,500 years ago the development of the two rival superpower blocs that hold the center of the world stage today?​—Daniel 11:27, 36-40.

So there are solid reasons to believe in the Bible as a revelation of God’s will.

The Bible​—A Revelation From God?

Does this necessarily mean, though, that you can trust the Bible as a revelation from God? There are many reasons why you can.

First of all, it is only reasonable to assume that God would reveal himself to man in some way. What do you think of a man who fathers children but then runs away and abandons them? What if such a man left his children in complete ignorance about himself, not even leaving them his name? Would you not be outraged with him? Is it not, therefore, only reasonable to conclude that a loving Creator would in some way reveal himself to his earthly children?

‘But why would he do so through a book?’ you might ask. ‘Would not an Almighty God use something more dramatic​—perhaps a voice from the sky?’ God did speak from heaven on several occasions, as when he gave the Ten Commandments. At that time the people were so terrified by the display of natural phenomena that they pleaded with Moses, “Let not God speak with us for fear we may die.” So they stood at a distance while Jehovah spoke to Moses. (Exodus 20:18-22)a But even Moses could have forgotten those words spoken by God. Jehovah therefore wisely chose to have Moses and, later, other faithful men preserve His words in writing. (Exodus 34:28) Thus, people can read God’s thoughts at their leisure. They can ponder, meditate on, and study what God has to say.​—See Joshua 1:8; also 1 Timothy 4:15.